Ultimate Comics

On sale in May, Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1 relaunches the saga of its titular superhero in high style, featuring a a particularly cool variant cover by Fiona Staples that you're seeing here for the first time. The co-creator of Image Comics' very popular and much acclaimed Saga, Staples is an artist whose routinely gorgeous covers for DC Comics, WildStorm, Archie IDW and Dark Horse have earned her numerous award nominations, but not until now has the artist's work graced the cover of a Marvel Comics publication.

It's been fourteen years since Marvel launched its Ultimate line of comics, with the goal of establishing a universe in which its characters were younger and modern, and where many of the continuity restrictions of the established Marvel line didn't apply. Over that time, many changes have been made and several significant characters have died -- most notably Peter Parker, who was replaced in the role of Spider-Man by young hero Miles Morales.

Now, the Ultimate line will once again embrace change. Following the conclusion of the current line-wide Cataclysm event -- featuring the heroes of that universe facing off against Galactus -- Marvel has announced Ultimate Marvel NOW, an initiative that will see a new direction and new titles from creators Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Michel Fiffe and more.

The latest solicitations for Marvel's Ultimate line seem to confirm what a lot of readers were expecting; that the forthcoming mini series Cataclysm: The Ultimates Last Stand might mark the end of the Ultimate experiment.

The series by the former Ultimate Spider-Man creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley pits the characters of Marvel's secondary superhero universe up against one of the biggest threats from the primary universe: Galactus, Devourer of Worlds. In its wake, the ongoing Ultimate titles have been replaced with a handful of three-issue miniseries. Whether there'll be anything left after these minis remains to be seen. If the Ultimate Universe is done, what happens to Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man?

The arrival of Galactus in the Ultimate Universe will initially be explored in Hunger, by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Leonard Kirk, but what Galactus's arrival means for the Ultimate version of Earth will play out in Cataclysm -- and with a name like that, it doesn't sound promising. Comics Alliance spoke to series editor Mark Paniccia to get more background on the series.

Cullen Bunn's workload at Marvel is growing. With successful runs on Venom and Wolverine under his belt, and the highly anticipated Fearless Defenders coming next year, Bunn is quickly becoming a favorite among Marvel readers. As such, Marvel has very good news for fans of th

As exclusively revealed by the Washington Post this morning, the Ultimate Universe is about to inaugurate a new leader of the free world. In a special election that follows months of chaos that have torn the U.S. ap

Beginning in January 2012, Marvel Comics will include free digital download codes, like those seen in this week's Avenging Spider-Man, in every comic book in their Ultimate line, allowing readers to purchase a print and digital copy of the issue simultaneously. The issues, beginning with Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #6, Ultimate Comics X-Men #7, and Ultimate Comics Ultimates #7, will be polybagged to protect

On sale now in comics shops everywhere is Ultimate Comics X-Men #1, beginning a brand new long form saga devised by writer Nick Spencer and illustrated by Paco Medina & Juan Vlasco with colors by Marte Garcia. As part of Marvel'sUltimate Comics Reborn initiative, Ultimate Comics X-Men #1 is designed to help reestablish the Ultimate line as a str

Marvel released this week the first completed pages of artwork from Ultimate Comics Ultimates #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman with artwork by Esad Ribic, the series joins Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Ultimate Comics X-Men and Ultimate Comics Hawkeye in relaunching Marvel's Ultimate Comics imprint, a separate continuity from that of the publisher's main superhero line and dedicated to particularly explosive, cinematic depictions of the Marvel characters. While fully lettered pages will be available closer to release in August, you can check out Ribic's beautiful

Following the unveiling of its auspicious new Ultimate Comics Reborn creative teams earlier this month, Marvel Comics has released cover artwork for its new Ultimate first issues, all of which has been illustrated by Kaare Andrews. You can check out And

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